Oct. 6
UGANDA:
EU delegation visits Luzira death-row inmates, promises to support them
The European Union Ambassador designate to Uganda H. E Attilio PACIFICI has
promised to do whatever is possible to support inmates on death row in Uganda.
The commitment was made during a solidarity visit to the inmates on death row
at Luzira Maximum Security Prison where he led a delegation of the European
Union (EU) Heads of Mission in Uganda.
Meanwhile the Ambassador of France to Uganda, H.E Stephanie RIVOAL, in a
message to the female death row inmates said they do not believe in execution,
but rather in redemption, arguing that the death penalty does not prevent
crime.
The visit was organised in partnership with the Foundation for Human Rights
Initiative as part of activities to mark the 15th World Day Against the Death
Penalty set for Tuesday next week, under the theme "Poverty and Justice: A
deadly mix".
The delegation included Ambassadors and representatives from Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
(source: kfm.co.ug)
BOTSWANA:
Death penalty dread lingers on farmhands who killed white farmer in Botswana
2 legal brains have joined to put on a spirited fight to save their convicted
killer clients from being hanged by the Botswana government.
Earlier this year, Lobatse Judge Abednego Tafa convicted Tshiamo Kgalalelo (32)
and Mmika Mpe (28) for murdering and then setting their Afrikaner boss',
Reinette Vorster, body on fire in her car.
In Botswana, the death sentence is usually issued upon murder under aggravated
circumstances and is carried out by hanging. Experienced lawyer Themba Joina
represents Mpe while Kgalalelo is relying on Archibald Gijima to save him from
the gallows.
The latest on the case is that the 2 lawyers had already submitted written
mitigating and extenuating circumstances to deliver their clients from the
dreadful hangman.
On 24 November the 2 lawyers will plead for the last time and explain why their
clients should be shown mercy.
In the last court session the 2 convicts said they killed their employer out of
anger, because the deceased had subjected them to slave conditions on the farms
of Okwa Valley in Gantsi, a village 667 kilometres away from the capital,
Gaborone.
The duo said they experienced hardships and barbaric and harsh treatment at the
hands of the white lady they brutally murdered and burnt, inside her Toyota
D4D.
This attracted other charges besides murder like: abduction, robbery, motor
vehicle theft and arson.
In the last court sitting Kgalalelo testified that: "I worked at Okwa Valley
for several years despite the harsh treatment from my employer.
We could not report the ill-treatment to labour or any other department because
the farm was too far from where [those] offices are. There was also no labour
inspection."
Both lawyers agreed that their clients were ill-treated by Vorster.
Kgalalelo's lawyer, Gijima, said his client did not murder Vorster. Mpe's
lawyer, Joina, said his client was young when he committed the offence and the
court should take that factor into consideration. Another thing that shows Mpe
was immature, Joina said, is the court findings that show he strangled Vorster
to death.
Botswana citizen Patrick Gabaakanye is the last man to receive the death
penalty. He was the 4th inmate to be executed in Botswana in the last 20 years
after the 1999 execution of South African immigrant Mariette Bosch, for murder.
Bosch's hanging, which caused international attention and mixed reactions, was
followed by another South African national Lehlohonolo Bernard Kobedi's
execution in July 2003.
In 2008 Modise Mokwadi Fly, a Motswana, was hanged for killing his son.
This means that current President Ian Khama has seen at least 2 executions
while in power.
According to the Botswana Constitution, after the courts of Botswana have
confirmed a death penalty, the case must still be referred to the Advisory
Committee on Prerogative of Mercy, who in turn shall advise the president if
there are grounds for him to exercise his powers under Section 53 of the
Constitution to "substitute a less severe form of punishment".
The membership of the Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy consists of
either the Vice-President or a minister appointed by the President, the
Attorney-General; and a person qualified as a medical practitioner in Botswana,
who is appointed by the President.
After Botswana's last execution, which was exercised on Gabaakanye, the
European Union (EU), which is anti-death penalty, issued a statement condemning
Botswana. The EU said the use of capital punishment can never be justified.
"The European Union believes that the death penalty is a cruel and inhumane
punishment and has consistently called for its universal abolition," it said.
(source: The African Independent)
NIGERIA:
Hairdresser to Die by Hanging for Stealing Laptop, Phone
Justice Kudirat Jose of an Ikeja High Court Wednesday sentenced to death Izunna
Ajaere, a 25-year-old male hairdresser for stealing a laptop and a mobile phone
at gunpoint.
Ajaere was found guilty based on the 2-count charge of conspiracy and armed
robbery and was sentenced to death by hanging.
The judge in her judgment, noted that the evidence of the victim of the crime,
Mr Uchenna Ukah, was overwhelming and pivotal in convicting Ajaere.
"The evidence of the prosecution witness proved that the defendant was one of
the armed robbers, therefore, all the ingredients of the crime of armed robbery
has been shown.
"The prosecution has proved the charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery
and armed robbery beyond reasonable doubt.
"The defendant is hereby sentenced to death for conspiracy to commit armed
robbery and sentenced to death for armed robbery.
"He is to be hanged by the neck till he is dead, may the Lord have mercy on his
soul," the judge said.
The prosecution led by Mrs A.B Awosika had told the court during trial that the
convict committed the offences at 9.30p.m. on June 22, 2012 at No. 12, Vincent
Eze, St., Ajao Estate, Lagos.
According to the prosecution, the convict alongside an accomplice had accosted
Ukah at gunpoint outside his flat.
"Ukah led them to his flat where they stole a laptop, a modem and a blackberry
mobile phone.
Ajaere and his accomplice after the robbery, locked the complainant in his
apartment with the intent to also rob his neighbours.
"The complainant managed to get out of his apartment to raise an alarm leading
to Ajaere and his accomplice being apprehended.
Ukah's laptop and modem were recovered from the duo, however, his blackberry
mobile phone was never recovered," Awosika said.
However, while testifying in his defence during the trial, Ajaere denied
robbing the complainant, he claimed he went to Ajao Estate for hairdressing
work and was arrested by policemen during a raid.
The convict claimed that he was falsely charged with conspiracy and armed
robbery by officials of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The offences violate Sections 295(2) and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State
2011.
(source: signalng.com)
KENYA:
Babu Owino: Government Planning to Hand Me a Death Sentence
Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino claims that there is a scheme by
Jubilee government to hand him a death sentence.
Speaking in an interview on Hot 96FM on Wednesday, the youthful MP accused the
government of mistreating him and was planning to charge him with treason,
which attracts a death penalty.
There are plans to charge me with treason and hand me a death sentence." He
claimed.
The penal code states that "any person who is guilty of the offence of treason
shall be sentenced to death."
The youthful was arrested on Monday last and was charged with subversion,
offensive language and incitement to violence. This was after making a slur
directed at President Uhuru Kenyatta during a National Super Alliance rally in
Nairobi.
He was rearrested shortly after he was released on sh 500,000 cash bail, and
was charged with assaulting a voter the following day.
Last week, the former Students Organization of Nairobi University (SONU)
chairman alleged that police officers tried to inject him with mercury after
sending street children to harass him while at the cell room.
(source: mwakalishi.com)
BAHAMAS:
Uncertainty Over Progress On Capital Punishment Plans
Press Secretary Anthony Newbold said Tuesday he does not know if the Minnis
administration has made progress in its plans to allow capital punishment to be
resumed in the Bahamas.
After demanding in opposition that the law on capital punishment be enforced,
the Minnis administration has, since its election victory in May, done nothing
to suggest it has begun movement on the issue.
"I don't know if or when that will happen," Mr Newbold said yesterday when
asked what the administration's plans are to allow capital punishment to
resume.
"I will say this: the Attorney General's Office is pretty busy right now doing
a lot of things, like preparing the anti-corruption agenda the prime minister
has talked about. The attorney general spoke last week about the fact that our
money laundering laws are a total mess. Is something being prepared to deal
with capital punishment? I can't say at the moment.
"I don't know when or if, the prime minister hasn't said anything to me
certainly about capital punishment. In light of what's happening, it's
certainly one I will ask him."
107 people have been murdered so far this year, a number that outpaces last
year's rate up to this point when about 76 people had been killed, according to
The Tribune's records.
In February, while in opposition, Dr Minnis said unless the government is
willing to enforce the death penalty, "criminals will continue to ravage our
country and keep citizens in fear."
Although the law allows for capital punishment, the death penalty has not been
carried out since January 2000. That year, David Mitchell was executed for
stabbing 2 German tourists to death.
In 2006, the London-based Privy Council ruled that the Bahamas' mandatory death
sentence for convicted murderers was unconstitutional.
In 2011, after a ruling from the Privy Council, the Ingraham administration
amended the death penalty law to specify the "worst of the worst" murders that
would warrant execution.
Under the amended law, a person who kills a police or defence force officer,
member of the Departments of Customs or Immigration, judiciary or prison
services would be eligible for a death sentence. A person would also be
eligible for death once convicted of murdering someone during a rape, robbery,
kidnapping or act of terrorism.
Chief Justice Sir Hartman Longley said last year that the chances of ever
imposing the death penalty under present laws are nil, adding that a massacre
is a kind of event that may allow the death penalty to take place.
Last year, however, Dr Minnis said it's time to pop the necks of "murderous
scumbags."
"Our economy, Mr Speaker, will not grow until we solve the issue of crime and
as you know crime is a multifaceted issue, which requires multifaceted
approaches (involving) the family, the church, civil society and the
government. (They) must all join forces to combat this societal mess," Dr
Minnis said in the House of Assembly in June 2016.
"Just the other day, a young man was gunned down at the ATM machine. We must,
as hanging is on our books, we must hang these criminals. These murderous
scumbags must be hung by the neck until they are dead."
He continued: "The murderous scumbags must be hung as that is on our laws.
Hang, hung, whatever...pop their necks."
Later that month, he told The Tribune if elected as prime minister, he would
immediately seek to amend the Constitution to remove the UK-based Privy Council
as the highest court of appeal for murder convicts.
He said last year in the case of such convictions, Supreme Court judges, if
they believe the nature and circumstance of a murder merit a death sentence,
should not have their ruling appealed to any court outside the country if the
Court of Appeal upholds their ruling.
"I want to amend the Constitution so murder cases will only go as far as the
Court of Appeal right here and would no longer go to the Privy Council," he
told The Tribune last year.
"I will do everything to carry out the law and the law says hang so that is
what I will do.
"This issue will be discussed and debated in the House of Assembly and then
taken to the people. We will have this referendum because I am a strong
advocate and believer of hanging.
"The crime has to stop and this is just one way we will attempt to stop it.
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that we start hanging these
murderers," Dr Minnis said in June 2016.
(source: tribune242.com)
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